Problem: He has poor diagnostic skills.

Real-Life Scenario: A 50-year-old woman with high blood pressure visits her doctor complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. Her doctor diagnoses anxiety and stress and sends her to a psychopharmacologist. Feeling skeptical, she sees a cardiologist, who finds that she has an arrhythmia and immediately prescribes beta-blockers.

Solution: “Cases of misdiagnosis are more common than you think,” says J. Edward Hill. This is not necessarily grounds for dumping a doctor — unless you’ve heard that the same thing has happened to other patients or the doctor has missed something obvious. If the misdiagnosis wasn’t serious, take note of how your doctor reacts after the accurate diagnosis is made, whether it comes after more tests or is another doctor’s opinion. “When I make a mistake, I tell the patient and the family, and they respect that,” says author Mehmet Oz, who is also the vice chairman of surgery at New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, in New York City. But if your doctor hems and haws and makes excuses, he may not be someone you want tending to your health.